Consistency matters

While researching a master’s in creative writing, I’ve discovered a major inconsistency on a university website.

In two places I’ve found this paragraph:

Graduate Assistants employed full-time will automatically be awarded (resident or nonresident as appropriate) tuition remission equivalent to one-fourth of the credit hours in their Graduate Degree Program each semester they serve as a Graduate Assistant. Tuition remissions for Graduate Assistant appointments less than full-time will be prorated accordingly. Fees are not included in tuition remission and must be paid by the student. Remissions will apply only to course work applicable to the approved program listed in the graduate catalog (or their substitutes). All tuition and fees for courses that do not meet the above criterion, as well as any courses the student drops or withdraws from, will be paid by the Graduate Assistant. These remissions may be utilized during the semester(s) of a Graduate Assistant appointment and the following summer session.

In another place, which I uncovered first, was this:

Graduate Assistantships provide tuition remission and a stipend. Teaching Assistants are responsible for teaching four composition courses in an academic year with the possibility of summer teaching stipends. Assistantships are also available for research interns and Writing Center tutors.

I know I’m researching creative writing degrees, but accuracy and consistency within a document are still necessary.

My husband is known to oft describe me as an academic. I’ve been, for several years, saying that I’d like to have five or ten advanced degrees, in various subjects — basically all of them word-related, though.

I recently started researching somewhat in earnest a master’s in creative writing. Writing a novel has long been a dream of mine, and I’d like to teach on the college level, too, so this would be a great degree for me.

I’ve nowhere been able to find the amount of the stipend given to graduate assistants at University of Nebraska Kearney, the above-cited school, either, although it was easily accessible at the University of Arkansas website (“Teaching assistantships currently carry an annual stipend of $8,800 for students with a B.A., and $9,200 for students holding an M.A. Teaching Assistants also receive a waiver of all tuition costs and teach two three-hour classes each semester.”).

Such lack of clarity and contradictory information, clearly, does not instill confidence in the caliber of the program.

Say it with me: Information must be available online, and it must be clear!

If it isn’t, companies (and universities) are missing out on quality consumers (and students).

Previous posts on the necessity of a requisite online presence here: TV and newspapers. And here’s one with an example of poor communication turning customers away.